Into the Future
by Ashkaa13
Summary: Tom is thrown 50 something years into the future. He must survive the time he is trapped there, by avoiding all the people who seem dead set on killing him. TR/HP, fluff. Some Gryffindor bashing, character death not Harry or Tom . Better summary inside.
1. Fight

Summary: Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort, is your every day Hogwarts student until he falls prey to an "evil" mirror that throws him fifty something years into the future. This new time if far more violent than the one he came from. The old git, sorry, I mean Dumbledore is harsh and downright cruel to everyone's faviorite future dark lord. The professors and students are extremely homicidal and his personal escort during the time he is being forced to spend here is while stunning, brilliant, and kind; doesn't trust him. Can he survive this hostel future, and more importantly can he win the wizarding worlds saviors' heart?

TR/HP( fluff), Some Gryffindor bashing (because every story needs an antagonist.), character death (not Harry, Tom, or Voldemort, I can't say any more or I'll give it away), SPOILERS! (I am trying to keep the facts from all seven books, but I'm changing the plot from the sixth book on.)

~*~*~*~*START*~*~*~*~

He didn't have any idea how he got here. One minute he had been standing in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom looking at his reflection in a mirror; the next he was tumbling to the floor in some dusty old room that probably hadn't been cleaned for decades, if looks were anything to go by. The mirror must have acted as some kind of portal; the only question was where had it taken him and how long before it could take him back?

He was sure whatever it was it could take him back, there were very few portals that only worked one way, and most of them were labeled Dark magic. Now most wizards would not have known that much about the Dark magic portals especially not any normal 6th year Hogwarts student, but Tom Marvolo Riddle was not a normal Hogwarts student. He was a Prefect, had received an award for Special Services to the school, was sure to become Head Boy some day, and had a peculiar interest in the Dark arts. Not that many knew that last bit.

Today was supposed to be his first day of classes. Potions had gone well professor Slughorn had even let him leave early after he finished his potion twenty minutes before the rest of the class. Not having to check the directions cut down the potion time quite a bit. He had already memorized all his class texts before he even stepped on the train yesterday so the potion had been easy. Originally, he had planned to go to the library and read but changed his mind when he remembered there was a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Tom liked to know all the Schools faculty. It was far easier to keep out trouble if people trusted and liked you; so he always did his best to get on the staffs good side, whether they were a teacher or not. So instead of reading a book in the comfort of the library he had gone to visit the new teacher to try to get on his good side.

Things had not gone his way. The room was empty when he got there except for a chalkboard some desks, and that accursed mirror. The thing seemed to call out to him; the second he looked at it, he was trapped. He couldn't look away from it and eventually he had given in to his curiosity and approached it. Now he was where ever here was with no idea what lay outside the dusty old room. Not one to just sit around and wait for a problem to work its self-out, Tom started to look around for a way out of the old room. In no time, he found a door.

Throwing the door open, Tom was nearly given a heart attack. The second he became use to the brightly lit corridor someone dropped out of the sky landing only a few feet from in front of where he was stranding. There was a barely auditable crack, with the impact, like a bone breaking. Crouching on all fours in front of him was a small boy with messy brown hair and wearing Gryffindor robes. Several flashes of purple and red light rained down on the small boys head, but vanished before hitting their intended target with a swish of the boys wand.

The boy stood, favoring his right leg, and shouted "Confringo!" There was an explosion followed by screams of panic and a shower of debris. Several red bolts shot from the small boy's wand. The dust soon cleared revealing a bleach blond haired boy shadowed by two large boys. All three were wearing Slytherin robes.

It didn't make any sense, Tom knew all his housemates, but he'd never seen these three. They were too large to be first years; the blond one even had a Prefect badge! The Gryffindor could be a first year, but he didn't think so. He was using spells far above anything any first year could cast.

"You know Potter, you seem to be too much of a cowered to be a Gryffindor; Running away like that. Are you sure the Sorting hat didn't sort you into the wrong house. Maybe it meant to say Hufflepuff instead?" The Blond sneered at the small Gryffindor, Potter. "No, I'm sure I'm not a Hufflepuff, Malfoy, I'm just not stupid. I know better than to try to stand and fight when you've brought half the Slytherin house to back you up! Real brave, by the way; and I was not running away, I was looking for a strategic location to kick your ruddy arse! " Potter yelled back with a taunting grin.

"Wow, Potter, I didn't think you knew such big words! Did you have that know-it-all Mudblood friend of your help you look them up? " Malfoy sneered back. The boy called Potter didn't miss a beat and called back "Why of course not Draco, but if you ask her really nice I'm sure she could help you look some up seeing how those two's help hasn't done anything for you. Maybe you shouldn't let them help you with your comebacks anymore; it ruins your image, unless you're going for brainless git." He replied easily. "You may even manage to start get A's again, with Hermione's help!" Looking as though the idea of the other boy getting an Acceptable was shocking.

There was murder in the other boy's eyes. The sneer was gone and he looked ready to kill. "Potter this is not a muggle school, top marks are O's not A's. Just because your parents were too stupid to not get themselves killed, and **obviously** didn't care enough about you to make sure you ended up in a proper home doesn't give you the right to be stupid as well. It's getting quite annoying to explaining these things to you." Draco replied coolly anger still burning in his eyes. The messy haired boy didn't reply, but Tom could feel the boy's power and rage radiating off his body. The air was so thick with it he was surprised it wasn't manifesting it's self as accidental magic yet.

Potter suddenly ducked as two spells shot over his head, from opposite sides of the corridor, both hitting the opposing caster. It was the two large boys that had been standing behind the Draco boy before. He hadn't even noticed they had left their friends side. 'Didn't anyone ever warn those two not to attack from opposite sides of the room!? They really couldn't have been that stupid could they?'

The blond boy had descended the rest of the stairs and was fighting with Gryffindor boy. "Sectumsempra!" Draco yelled. The spell slashed through the other boys shield and sent blood flying into the air as it cut several deep gashes into the Gryffindors chest and one across his left shoulder. The Gryffindor didn't even wince, he locked eyes with the other boy and shouted "EXPELLIARMUS!" sending the blond crashing into a wall with the force of the spell. He slid down the wall into an unconscious heap. Voices and hurried foot steeps came rushing towards them.

* * *

Yay, my first multy chapter HP fanfiction!.. that I actually took the time to write out. LOL, anyway tell me what you think. It's from Tom's pov for now, I may switch to Harry later on but most likely I'll just stay with Tom. I like him better anyway. This is chapter 1 of; I have no idea how many chapters story. I probably will keep it under 15 chapters but who knows? This will be a HP/ TR story but don't expect it to get too graphic, you'll just have to imagine your own smut! (Evil laughter)Really though, you're better off coming up with your own, I'm horrible at that kind of stuff. There will be mentions of it but it's unlikely I'll go into great detail. I will finish it though! I don't do the whole abandoning thing. Most of this is already done, but I refuse to post it all at once. (more evil laughter) Nope, you have to wait a week… that or whenever I get some free time whichever comes first. *I just don't want to post more than once a day. *Anyway thanks for reading! ^_^


	2. A Few New Faces

Summary of the story so far: Tom Riddle has been transported through a mirror/ portal and ended up in an old unused classroom. When he tries to leave the room, he is shocked to find a young Gryffindor dueling a large group of Slytherins he has never met before.

TR/HP( fluff), Some Gryffindor bashing (because every story needs an antagonist.), character death (not Harry, Tom, or Voldemort, I can't say any more or I'll give it away), SPOILERS! (I am trying to keep the facts from all seven books, but I'm changing the plot from the sixth book on.)

Disclaimer: I don't think I really need this, if I owned Harry Potter I wouldn't be posting here, I'd be rich and all of my favorite characters wouldn't have died.

~*~*~Start~*~*~

The Gryffindor's head shot up and glanced around hurriedly as if he was expecting another attack. Their eyes locked, and the Potter boy looked shocked as he quickly stumbled backward away from me. He looked about ready to say something but three teachers stormed into the hallway before he had a chance.

"Dear lord, what happened here!" an extremely old and disturbingly familiar witch gasped. She had black hair pulled into a tight bun, beady eyes behind square spectacles, and looked remarkably similar to the most annoying second year Gryffindor he ever had the misfortune to meet, Minerva McGonagall. All of last year she had done nothing but worship Dumbledore, study, and prank him. The kid was a bloody menace! He couldn't go near the library if she was in there, or he would end up spending half the time reversing whatever new color his hair, robes, skin, or books had turned. There was another familiar face amongst the group.

One that had him seriously worried. Albus Dumbledore, his most hated teacher in the entire school. The old mad was pure evil, in his eyes. Dumbledore was a brilliant, hypocritical, conniving, old git; and Tom loathed and respected him for it. He'd swear to it that the man lived to give him a hard time. This Dumbledore was far older than the Dumbledore he knew, but there was no mistaking him. He could only hope this was some evil joke he and Minerva had come up with to give him heart failure. The last member of their little faction was a tall man with greasy black hair, a crooked nose, cold black eyes, pale skin, and a look of thinly veiled fury. He was glairing death at the Potter boy.

The old Dumbledore brought Tom out of his musings. "Hello my boy, may I inquire as to how you managed to get in here?" The man was calm but Tom could easily hear the threat and suspicion in his voice. If this was really, the Professor Dumbledore he knew than he was in serious trouble. The old man would never let this much of his dislike for someone show in front of others. The other two teachers were now staring at him as well; Potter watched them as well but seemed unconcerned.

"I fell through a mirror in that room, but I don't see what the problem is. Unless I'm mistaken this is Hogwarts, and as a Hogwarts student I have every right to be here." Tom replied with a cool confidence he was most definitely not feeling inside. Dumbledore and the other adults did not look convinced. Potter chose that moment to chip in to their quickly deteriorating conversation. "Professor I don't think he's Voldemort or at least not the original. I had a vision last night and he wasn't even in the U.K. not to mention my scar's not reacting to him." The greasy haired man returned to glaring at Potter. He was about to say something to the Gryffindor but Dumbledore cut him off.

"Minerva, please take Harry here to the hospital wing and have Poppy look him over, then bring him to my office. I fear we have much to discuss." Then turning to Tom he added, "Tom this way please, I would like you to show me which mirror you came through. Snape get what you need and meet us in my office." Tom led the old man to the mirror as the others went on their way.

~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~

Sorry this is a bit late, I was planning to post this Sunday but I was up late Saturday night and when I finally did get up I forgot to post. ^_^; Please don't kill me! I'll post next week's chapter Friday as compensation for being late this week. I hope you enjoy it; this chapter is very short, I'm pretty sure this is the shortest chapter I have wrote for this story so far.


	3. Explanations

Summary of the story so far: Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall have found Tom and Harry. The trouble is just starting.

TR/HP( fluff), Some Gryffindor bashing (because every story needs an antagonist.), character death (not Harry, Tom, or Voldemort, I can't say any more or I'll give it away), SPOILERS! (I am trying to keep the facts from all seven books, but I'm changing the plot from the sixth book on.)

Disclaimer: I don't really need this, you all know if I owned Harry Potter I wouldn't be posting here, I'd be rich and this would be the book.

~*~*~Start~*~*~

Dumbledore, and Snape, as he had just learned, had almost finished questioning him under Veritaserum when Potter and Minerva appeared. "Do you know anything about Harry Potter, or have any intention to harm Mister Potter?" Dumbledore asked. "No." was his reply of course; he wasn't familiar with anything from this time. It hadn't taken him much time to figure out just where the portal had dropped him. The entire school was filled with people he didn't know and Dumbledore and Minerva were far older than they were when he last saw them.

"Do you know anything about prophecies?" "Other than they are a form of divination and complete bull, no." Potter, Harry?, snickered, while the three professors glared death at him. The Veritaserum had finally released its hold so he returned the look. It didn't matter what his future self had done, he was innocent of those crimes, and they had no right to use Veritaserum on him.

"Harry my boy, how good to see you! We would love to hear your side of the story of today's adventures. "The old git caroled. Tom wanted to puke; the man always rubbed him the wrong way. Potter just smiled politely and began retelling the events of his day. It was a wonder why Dumbledore would think he would want to hurt the small boy he seemed very sweet despite his actions in the corridors. He was curious how Potter ever managed to get into Gryffindor in the first place.

"I woke up after the vision I mentioned earlier. Voldemort's out of the country, I'm not sure where or why but it looked sort of like France, or maybe Germany? Lucius was with him as well as two others that I didn't recognize, they had their hoods up. One of them had tripped or something and he was pissed because they had almost destroyed whatever they had with them. He tortured the man for a while using a spell I did not recognize. It was a purple red color and caused red lines to appear and disappear all over his skin. After that, he calmed down and I woke up. I got dressed and was on my way to tell you what I saw, but I ran into Draco with a large group of Slytherins. I tried to avoid them but they spotted me and chased me to a floor above that corridor. I stunned most of the group on the way there but Malfoy and his two goons managed to avoid my spells. They trapped me on the stair well so a jumped down a level and ended up where you found me. Crabbe and Goyle stunned themselves. I dueled Malfoy and knocked him out with Expelliarmus. I had just noticed Riddle when you showed up."

Dumbledore smiled at Potter then turned to him. "It seems your story checks out Mr. Riddle. I am not sure on the history of that particular mirror so it seems you will be stuck here for a while. I assume you would prefer to stay in your former house?"

"I would appreciate it very much Professor." He replied barely able to keep the contempt out of his voice. He noticed Potter smiling at them in an amused way. The look in the other boy's eyes was a lot older than he would have ever guessed him to be. Whoever this Harry Potter may be, he'd have had to seen a lot in his short life to have such a look.

Dumbledore and his goons, as Tom was now calling the other two professors, were discussing his living arrangements, and class schedule. Potter was asleep on the chair across from him. He was watching him sleep when the old git decided to interfere. "Harry I realize you must be very tired from today's adventures but I believe this concerns you too." The other boy made no move to show he had heard, the only indication he had came with his reply, "'K professor" but he didn't open his eyes.

Dumbledore just chuckled and started to explain his plan to the two boys. "Tom, you will be given a chamber near the Slytherin dorms to sleep. Absolutely no rule breaking will be tolerated. You will not try to find out anything about this time, or any time before the one, you came from. The library and Chamber of Secrets are both off limits. If you want a book, you must ask either me, Minerva, or Severus to get it for you. The Basilisk has already been exterminated, and the other professors know of the Chambers location. If you are caught breaking any rules I will be forced to move you some place you will be unable to cause any trouble until we can return you to your own time. The staff and students will be warned of your presence and informed of the rules surrounding your presence here. You will be keep safe here, your older self has done some terrible things throughout his life and there are many people who would like nothing less to get their hands on you."

Dumbledore then turned to Potter. "Harry, I would like you to keep an eye on him. You two will share classes for now. I fear you may be the only one besides myself who will be able to handle him."

Potter looked up, surprised. The other two professors looked shocked as well. "Are you sure professor?" the Gryffindor questioned. The other two professors looked as if they had something to say as well but Dumbledore cut them off.

"Absolutely, now off you go. Harry take Mr. Riddle to the room nearest to the Slytherin common room. The one that previously would not open. I believe you know the one?" he said, in a dismissive manner, his eyes twinkling with some evil scheme that was sure to mean trouble. Potter shot the old man an unreadable look as we passed him on our way out.

Should I have broken up the lines more? I didn't want to split the lines while they were in the middle of talking, because it might be confusing. I can if it would make it easier to read.

Anyway, as I promised Wednesday, here it is chapter three. I should have chapter four posted on time next Friday as well, but either chapter five or six may be late, because of finals week. Chapter four is longer to compensate for the delay. Hope you enjoyed it.


	4. Slytherin

Summary of the story so far: Dumbledore and Snape have interrogated Tom. Finding nothing to suggest he is part of some evil plan thought up by his crazed older self, Dumbledore decides to keep younger Tom around while he tries to find a way to send the miniature menace back to his own time. Harry is put in charge of keeping track of the terror until then.

TR/HP( fluff), Some Gryffindor bashing (because every story needs an antagonist.), character death (not Harry, Tom, or Voldemort, I can't say any more or I'll give it away), SPOILERS! (I am trying to keep the facts from all seven books, but I'm changing the plot from the sixth book on.)

Disclaimer: We're four chapters in you should have read this by now, I don't own Harry Potter, if I did the last book would have had a very different outcome.

"Talking"

\_Parseltongue_/

~*~*~Start~*~*~

We spent most of the trip to my new room in silence. Eventually my curiosity won out, I wanted to know more about the strange boy that Dumbledore seemed to trust so much. "So, Potter" I drawled, "usually when people meet for the first time they introduce themselves, at least that's how it was back in my time." Potter turned and blinked at me. "Yeah, uh right. I'm Harry Potter, nice to meet you." He said with a fake smile. I smiled back, "It's a pleasure to meet you Harry, Tom Riddle, please call me Tom." and shook his hand.

Harry shrugged; and continues our trip to my room, without another word, much to my disappointment. I'm starting to think he doesn't like me. "Why do you think Dumbledore put you in charge of keeping track of me?" I ask, trying to get the boy to speak to me. Who's ever heard of a quiet Gryffindor? I had thought it was a law of nature that they all had to be loud and hyper. Was this kid really a Gryffindor?

"I have experience dealing with you, and won't fall for your charm." I look at him again, he sounds as if he is expecting trouble from me. It's odd, other than Dumbledore and the muggles at the orphanage no-one's ever been too suspicious of me. I have always been good at covering my tracks. "You make that sound like it will be hard." Harry came to a dead halt. At first I think I've upset him but them he hisses under his breath, "Oh no, not him!"

I blink, then look to see what he is talking about, not far ahead is a portrait of Salazar Slytherin. I am very confused; Harry doesn't like Salazar? The portrait rarely ever spoke English, and in the six years I have been at Hogwarts, I have never heard the man speak to a Gryffindor. He barely ever spoke to the Slytherins, why would Harry be any different.

"Hello there little snake. Tom it's nice to see you again!" The founder called out. Little Snake? Why was Slytherin calling a Gryffindor little snake? He only called Slytherins snakes.

"Good day Salazar." I call back. "That's your room, Slytherin's guarding. You can get there yourself right?" Harry asks with a pleading look. He definitely does not want to talk to Salazar. I'd rather not cause him any trouble at the moment, he would be a useful ally, but Sal, my nickname for Salazar, would be offended and he would make my life miserable. "I don't know the password." I reason. He shoots me a glare and walks up to the portrait.

"Slytherin, Dumbledore wants Tom to take this room until he can figure out how to send him back to his own time. Would you please let him in?" The Gryffindor was very stiff as he spoke. Sal shot him a wicked grin then replied in Parseltongue \_Sure Little Snake. As soon, as you ask me properly and agree to take the time to hold a decent conversation with me. I have many questions I would love for you to answer._ / "Slytherin!" Harry replied exasperated. \_Yes, my Little Snake?_ / Slytherin hissed back amused. Potter death glared the portrait.

\_Can he speak?_/ I ask \_I would rather go to bed if this is some kind of game you are playing Sal_/ Harry's head snapped up in my direction. \_Sal?_/ He looks like he's trying to fight off the laughter for a minute before he completely looses it.

He leaned against the wall as he tried to regain his control; his raven black hair covered his face from my view. There was something magical about his laughter, it made my chest tighten and I couldn't stop the stupid smile I felt spreading over my face. \_Haha, laugh it up you brats!_ / Salazar snapped good-naturedly.

"So you're a Parselmouth? Is that why Sal calls you Snake even though you're a Gryffindor?" Slytherin answers before Harry can. \_I call our little friend here Snake because is really a Slytherin. The sneaky brat tricked the Sorting Hat into placing him in Gryffindor. _/

\_He tricked the Sorting Hat? I didn't realize that was possible._ / Slytherin nodded grimly. \_The child refused to be in my house. Imagine my surprise when I learned about it. I've been trying to get Dumbledore to resort him since his first year, but the man refuses to listen to me. / _

_\Wait, what! You've been trying to get me resorted? How, I thought it was impossible to be resorted. / _Harry stared at Slytherin in panic while the founder glared back at him for interrupting. After a moment, Slytherin figured Harry got the message and started explaining again._ \You can be resorted if the Headmaster agrees to the resorting, or if all four of the Hogwarts founders portraits, and the Sorting Hat agree that you were wrongly placed. /_

_\Why, haven't you had him resorted then? It can't be that hard to convince the others to have him resorted. / _Slytherin shook his head with annoyance. _\__Godric, he is always the problem. We never have got along. I was surprised when he didn't have my portrait remove from Hogwarts when I left. / _

Salazar sighed to himself. \_Harry is Godric's heir. He believes that Harry will be fine in his house. If you could choose, your own house there would have been no need for the Sorting Hat. Its sole purpose is to place students in the house that will help them achieve their full potential. There is no reasoning with him though. I've tried, but he won't listen. / _\_So, that's why you've suddenly started hounding me? You think I can change their minds. /_

I give them a questioning look. Last time I spoke to Sal, he could only leave his portrait to enter the one in the headmasters' quarters or the ones he had placed in the secret chambers he'd hid throughout Hogwarts. Not many people knew that Salazar had more than one secret chamber. Only the main one housed the Basilisk, but there were several smaller chambers throughout the school, which housed books, wrote in Parseltongue. They were strange books that were full of squiggles and hissed their contents to their readers. I think I'll show Harry one sometime, if he proves to be trustworthy. It was very unnerving the first time I came across one of the books; I bet his reaction would be amusing; he's a bit jumpier than I am.

I was shaken from my thoughts when I realize Harry and Salazar were still arguing and had ignored me. In my thoughts, I had missed whatever Sal had been saying, it was not too hard to guess what he had said though. Harry looked extremely irritated, he was going on about how he had never met let alone seen Gryffindor, so there was no reason for Salazar to keep bothering him and not wanting to be resorted.

The other boy was hissing his replies hotly and looked a little disheveled. He seemed to have lost a lot of the confidence he had while dueling the Slytherins and with the professors. It was as if he wasn't sure how to act around Salazar. It was understandable, Sal was old, and a great wizard but he didn't act that way when he was alone with his Slytherins, or speaking in Parseltongue. The founder could be downright childish when he was sure no one would see.

\_I hate to interrupt your oh so fascinating conversation but could we continue this inside, I'd rather not stand here all night. / _I hiss sarcastically. I've played these games before with Slytherin, and I know from experience that it's useless to argue with him. Slytherins' are not said to be cunning for nothing, and no one would accuse him of not being persistent. It was really saying something if Dumbledore could refuse Salazar's request for so long.

They both glared at me in response. It didn't bother me though, I hate being ignored, I can live with being glared at. I raise an eyebrow at them in response. I'm not one to be intimidated, it always has gotten me into trouble at the orphanage. Salazar shook his head, "Fine you can come in but Harry must come as well."

"Trying to kidnap my heir again, Salazar? You know you are wasting your time you silly snake!" Roared a loud amused voice from down the hall. "Godric," Salazar sighed in annoyance. "What are you doing here?" A muscular man with striking red mane like hair and eyes that matched Harry's strode up proudly. He was wearing a red and gold cloak with a long sword that had rubies in its handle.

"Dumbledore sent me to check on Harry. He was worried that you were causing trouble again. It is amazing that even trapped in your frame you manage to be a disturbance." Slytherin chuckled coolly. "It's ironic you calling me a disturbance, seeing as it's you who can't seem to walk down a corridor without everyone in the vicinity knowing about it." Gryffindor just laughed loudly and smiled at Salazar.

Slytherin rolled his eyes and swung the portrait open. "Fine, we'll continue our conversation inside." Shooting Harry a sharp look. "Don't try to sneak off." Harry glared at him, and I got the feeling that was exactly what he had planned to do. I hope he doesn't, Salazar would have no qualm using me to get revenge, heir or not.

I followed Harry into the room. Gryffindor strode back out of Salazar's portrait just ahead of us with the smooth grace of any dueler. His gate was reminiscent to that of a large cat. I remember reading something in one of the Parseltongue libraries that mentioned all of the Founders were Animagi, and their Animagus form was connected to the animal each had chose as their house symbol. Hufflepuff was a badger and Gryffindor was a lion. Ravenclaw and Slytherin's Animagus forms were not mentioned in the books, but he had talked Salazar into telling him his form was a huge King Cobra and the Bloody Baron had been happy to share with me that Ravenclaw was a Golden Eagle.

We all sat down, the founders on chairs in a large previously unoccupied painting, and Harry and I on a couch parallel to the painting. "So, where were we?" Gryffindor commanded loudly. "Why do you always insist on shouting everyone deaf in your presence? Is it not enough that you blind us with your garish clothes?" Slytherin hissed icily. I have to restrain myself from not shifting in my discomfort. I know that tone, it was not a good sign, Salazar was getting upset and that didn't spell well for anyone.

Gryffindor didn't seem to have caught on and was about to retort but Harry speedily cut him off. "You were explaining why you have suddenly taken to stalking me this year, when you never seemed to have any interest in speaking with me before." The two founders examine Harry incredulously. Harry simply ignored their stares and waited patiently for Slytherin to answer.

I can't help but admire his ability to simply ignore their gaze, it takes all of my confidence and perseverance not to give in to just one of the founders stare. I can't possibly imagine staying that calm under the stare of two of them. The founders were some of the greatest teachers ever to grace the wizarding world; you can't gain a title like that without having a sharp gaze and the power to back it up. People just won't respect you if you don't.

Slytherin chuckled, a slight smirk crossed his face. "You managed to talk the Sorting Hat into switching your house, it's not something easily done." "I'm not the first one to have done it?" Harry asked confused. "Why aren't there any mentions of any other students being resorted?" Gryffindor cursed loudly, making both of us jump while Salazar snickered at our surprise.

"There has never been a resorting; no other Slytherins have refused to be members of my house. The other founders are content to let their students do as they please, but I will not stand for it. It was part of the reason I left Hogwarts in the first place. The others thought I was too strict with my students. They felt that I should loosen the standards I require from my students." Gryffindor rolled his eyes. "He would take a couple hundred students and we would end up having to split up the rest. Not to mention he would take weeks to decide which students he wanted! That's why we started using the sorting hat, it could do in one night what took us weeks to do ourselves. It still didn't stop Salazar from being the picky git that he is." Annoyance flickering in his eyes, he finished with a growl.

"It doesn't matter, it has been centuries and you still have not changed my mind. This does mean you either have to free me from my portrait or help me get our little misguided snake resorted, your choice." Sal smiled with a feral grin. Gryffindor cursed again, and looked to Harry. "You pick, it's you he will go after if I let him out. He has been badgering me about you for years and he is rather crafty." Harry glanced over to the other founder before answering. "I just beat the majority of the Slytherins in my year; if I'm suddenly sorted into their house it will give them the perfect opportunity to get their revenge. They have never been very forgiving, there is no way they could just forget five years of fighting. Slytherin can badger me all he wants it won't change my mind. I'm a Gryffindor."

Anger flashed into Salazar's eyes for a second before he could hide it. Harry had just set himself up for trouble. He was right when he said Slytherins didn't forgive easy, Salazar would make him pay for the slight. I was willing to bet that I would still be here for Harry's resorting, and knowing Salazar, I would have some part in helping him achieve his goal.

"I guess that means we should let the boys go, they have classes tomorrow." Gryffindor nodded in agreement, and bid us goodbye. I silently lead Harry to the door. "I'll come by tomorrow morning to take you to the Great Hall and bring you your class schedule." Harry said before disappearing into the shadows of the dungeon corridors.

~*~*~End~*~*~

So, did you like it? I love the Founders they are so much fun! Just one more chapter before things can really get started! Next chapter, Tom is introduced to the school.

Sorry about the last few chapters, for some reason my line breaker for their end vanished. It's a real mystery. Anyway, I think I've fixed it now.

You may notice something weird going on with the Parseltongue lines. I'm still messing with how I want it to look. I'm trying to make them italicized but I'm not sure if it will work. If it does, I'm scrapping the \.../ thing.

Sorry this is a bit late, I was going over it again Friday before I posted it, and couldn't stand how Harry and Salazar's conversation sounded, so I have been messing with it since. It actually makes sense now and as a plus it is almost twice as long as the original chapter.


	5. Meeting the School

Summary of the story so far: Dumbledore has Harry take Tom to his new room. The boys meet two for the founders, Salazar and Godric. Tom learns about Harry's Parseltongue ability and that Harry belongs in the house of the snakes!

TR/HP( fluff), Some Gryffindor bashing (because every story needs an antagonist.), character death (not Harry, Tom, or Voldemort, I can't say any more or I'll give it away), SPOILERS! (I am trying to keep the facts from all seven books, but I'm changing the plot from the sixth book on.)

Disclaimer: We're five chapters in you should have read this by now, I don't own Harry Potter, if I did the last book would have had a very different outcome. *Insert evil smile here*

"Talking"

\_Parseltongue_/

~*~*~Start~*~*~

I woke early the next morning and quickly got ready for the day. A house elf had dropped off bathroom supplies and a change of clothes sometime during our talk with Slytherin. Gryffindor had done whatever it was he had to do to free Salazar from his frame while I was preparing for bed. They were both gone when I had finished and the door to my rooms was locked from the outside. Not that I was going anywhere, I wasn't too fond of this time's Hogwarts, but I was more likely to get back to my own time if I stuck around.

My rooms consisted of a bedroom, a bathroom, and the small sitting room with the large painting on the wall. The floors to all the rooms were stone but the bedroom and sitting room had deep forest green throw rugs. The sitting room also had a fireplace that I had not noticed the other night on the opposing wall of the large painting. The walls were stone and had no windows, which wasn't unusual for the dungeons but only added to my feeling of imprisonment. Apart from the one painting, the walls were completely barren.

I was dressed in normal Slytherin school robes waiting for Harry to show up. The Gryffindor had conveniently forgotten to mention exactly when he would be coming. In all the confusion the other day, we had missed dinner and I had missed lunch during the questioning. With the door locked, I couldn't even sneak out to the kitchen. Cursing my misfortune and Dumbledore, because I know he planned this, I watched the clock slowly tick off the minutes.

Much to my delight, Harry showed up five past seven. I the lack of food is making me a little dizzy. Harry gives me an odd look before walking up and handing me a muffin. He chuckles quietly as my eyes widen in shock. The muffin is gone in no time, but I still feel like I'm going to pass out.

Harry snaps me out my thoughts as he moves forward to catch my fall. "You should sit down. You're not use to missing meals are you?" he asks concerned. I'm a bit disturbed by his missing meals comment, I have a feeling he is very use to it and surprisingly that bothers me.

Sitting down things, start to clear up and I start to feel foolish. I almost fainted in front of Harry; he probably thought I was weak. The day was not starting out well. "How about we stop at the kitchens before we go to the Great Hall? I doubt we'll get a chance to eat once Dumbledore introduces you to the school." Harry said as he dragged me out the door. We silently wander the halls until we reach the painting of a bowl of fruit. Harry tickled the pear, and a moment later, the painting swung open to reveal a room full of scurrying house elves, preparing breakfast.

One of the house elves let out a cry of delight as it trips and drops the bowl of batter it had been stirring to rush towards us. "Harry Potter! Sir" The house elf cried in delight. "Good morning Dobby, how have you been? Kreacher isn't causing too much trouble is he?" Harry asked kindly. The elf beamed at Harry like a fool until the Gryffindor mentioned creature. "Dobby is doing very well Harry Potter! Dobby is glad to be greeted by Harry Potter this morning!" The elf exclaimed cheerfully, and then with an ashen look the elf went on to say. "Kreacher is bad house elf Harry Potter. Kreacher breaks things while cleaning Sir!"

The look turns stricken as he leans in closer to us and says, "He speaks ill of Harry Potter and your friends, Sir, he says horrible things Harry Potter. We do not listen to him Sir! Dobby had to shut Kreacher's mouth for him, Sir! Dobby warned him Harry Potter, Sir!" The house elf, Dobby, looked ashamed but determinedly into Harry's eyes with his tennis ball sized green ones. All the other house elves had stopped what they were doing and were staring at us with wide bright eyes. The looks on their faces were unreadable.

A chill ran up my spin. I **HATE** house elves, they always creep me out with those oversized eyes and wide-eyed stares of theirs. One or two was ok but the number that resided in the kitchens was immense. I wanted to leave, but Harry was completely oblivious to me or the staring mob of wide-eyed house elves, that watched our every move, like bald, oversized owls. Trips to the kitchen always left me wondering what house elves eat. Most wizards assumed they ate scraps of food from the kitchens, but I have never met anyone who has ever seen one eating, and the books never mention it. Who was to say they didn't eat young students who wandered the halls at night? There were many muggle fairy tales that spoke of elves that ate misbehaved children; and there was always a bit of truth in every story.

A loud crack startled me out of my musings. The oldest and most hideous house elf I had ever seen had appeared before us. It looked at us with disgust and hate, its mouth twisted in a disgusting expression. "Kreacher why have you been causing so many problems for the other house elves?" Harry asked in exasperation. The house elf Dobby had moved to the left of Harry standing a little in front of him. The elf snapped his fingers and the second elf let loose with a string of insults. "Kreacher enough! Answer the question!" The Gryffindor demanded. Kreacher made a face and went on a long rant about not serving filth and so on, or would have if Harry hadn't silenced him. The creature went on with its rant but we were spared from listening to it.

Harry shook his head despondently. "Kreacher, you will no longer break things that are not meant to be broken. You will listen and obey any orders Dobby gives you from now on. You will start doing your best to help take care of Hogwarts. If you are unsure about something, you will ask Dobby or another Hogwarts house elf about it. Do you understand?" "Yes" the creature ground out. The Gryffindor smiled brightly and dismissed the old elf before turning back to Dobby. "Dobby; I and Tom," he motioned to me "missed dinner yesterday and I don't think we'll have much time for breakfast once we get to the Great Hall." Dobby looked worriedly at Harry, who had to be positively mad to tell an entire room of house elves they had missed a meal and may have to miss another one. Abraxas set the entire Malfoy house elf staff on me once when I was visiting him on holiday, by telling them that the orphanage starved me. It wasn't true, I was never fed well, but I still got three meals a day. The house elves spent my vacation bringing me snacks where ever I went. There is no hiding from a house elf, and they always overflowed my plate during every meal.

The mob of elves that had been watching us a moment before swarmed us all carrying food. There were jugs of milk and juice, plates loaded with toast, bagels, muffins, fruit, pastries, sandwiches and cereals of every kind. Two people had no chance of eating half of it let alone all of it. This was one of the reasons I don't trust house elves, the evil little creatures keep trying to fatten their visitors up. I can never get that Hansel and Gretel story out of my head, eat to your heart's content but when you are done, you're going to be made into a pie and eaten. It made me feel foolish, and curse all those children's books I had read at the orphanage. We ate in silence, only managing to finish a forth of what the elves brought us. Harry packed some muffins and a few pastries in his bag before we thanked the elves and he bid Dobby goodbye.

"Were those house elves yours?" I ask, making conversation. I don't mind the silence but I like this un-Gryffindor like Gryffindor. Something about Harry draws me to him. I want to talk to him, I want him to like me, trust me. It is an odd attraction, usually I attract people to me, they want me to like them and I just play along, I have never cared what they thought of me. Not really, I like it when everyone worships me but if someone doesn't like me I only work to change their minds if I need them for something that required their trust or loyalty and sometimes simply for the challenge, usually I just force them to do as I wish. It's faster and requires less work on my part.

Harry was different, I won't waste my time denying it, I like him, he is different like me. Harry is smart, a good dueler, calm under pressure, respected, and confident, he doesn't need anyone to help him achieve his goals. I have known him for less than a day but everything about him seemed perfect, almost perfect, I wish he had been in Slytherin. I could live with that though, him being a Parselmouth and having supposed to have been a Slytherin more than made up for being placed in Gryffindor. At least it meant he was brave, and not a Hufflepuff. I shudder at the thought of befriending a Hufflepuff, they are positively worthless. What use was loyalty is you were too frightened to achieve anything?

All of the Hufflepuffs from my time were terrified of the Slytherins and most of the Ravenclaws. Some of them scream and run away if I try to approach them. It had been funny at first but now it just pisses me off. I have orchestrated several "pranks" on them now as retaliation to their over dramatic reaction to my attempts to approach them. "Yes" I look up at Harry flustered. Harry raises an eyebrow in question. "Tom are you ok, you seem a little out of it today?" he smiles softly, with one of those smiles that lets you know that they care and it is safe to tell them what its wrong, that they will make everything better. It is a lie though, it is always a lie, and the couples that frequent the orphanage always smile like that, not so they can help you but to help them separate the freaks from the normal children. I'm not sure with Harry, he doesn't seem to hate me but he certainly doesn't like me. He didn't seem to fond of the professors I met yesterday either, which was odd because they really liked him. I decided to tell him the truth but not so much that he could use it against me later.

"I've just been thinking about this time and mine, there is so much I don't know here but it all looks the same." I shrug. The Gryffindor nods, his face is completely unreadable. We move on and I can feel the unbreakable silence slipping back into place. "Why are you so determined to not speak with me? If you would talk to me I wouldn't keep getting lost in my thoughts." I ask a bit sharply. Harry blinks back at me, a small smile graces his lips and his eyes brighten a bit. "Sorry, I wasn't trying to ignore you. Dumbledore was right about there being many people who will want to hurt you though. I'm suppose to make sure no one does. I think Dumbledore believes that if the other students know that I'm the one keeping track of you so they will feel safer, but it could go the other way as well and it could make things worse. If they see me protecting you they could turn on me." Harry shrugged, the smile had vanished, and concern shown in his eyes. "Either way you're safer with me but it would be bad if everyone thinks I support you I'll have trouble preventing them from attacking you if they don't trust me either. I'm not even sure what the Prophet has been saying about me this year. If it's anything like what they said last year" he trailed off shaking his head.

"No one is going to be happy about this. I'm not even sure if the Slytherins will be willing to let you sit with them. If they reject you to, you could have the entire school against you. I have a really bad feeling about this year." "Harry, wait up!" a voice cried from above us. I spin to locate the speaker. I don't want anyone to land on me, who knew if jumping from the staircases had become popular in this time. Harry laughed at me, and I shot him a glare. After yesterday, I wasn't going to risk it. "Morning Harry!" Two identical red headed boys called out in sync as they ran towards us. "Morning, Fred, George! What are you two doing here?" Harry asked as they finally caught up with us.

"Dumbles asked us to come back and give you a hand dark lord sitting under the guise of coming back to complete our last year. We can tell the DA members that we came back to help you with the group though. We're not suppose to tell anyone but you why we are really here." They said, in the most peculiar way possible. One would start a sentence, stop the other would pick it up and continue with it. Their transitions were prefect but they switched between who spoke multiple times during every sentence. It made my head spin. I have met other twins who could complete each other's sentences but they never went to such an extreme. "What about your shop?" "Don't worry about it Harry, we hired help!" The twins laughed took up one of Harry's arms and dragged him down the corridor into the Great Hall. I followed slightly behind them, trying to hide my amusement at the twin's antics.

The three of them came to a sudden stop just inside the Great Halls doors. "Show time Harry." "Good luck" the two said before hurrying over to the Gryffindor table. I followed Harry to the front to stand to the right of Dumbledore. We keep several feet between us and the old man and wait for him to introduce me to the school. Standing there it dawned on me that if so many people will want to hurt me when they realize who I am but don't know yet who I am then why not simply not tell them. Surely, Dumbledore could think of a satisfactory explanation as to why I needed to be treated with caution. No one here seemed to have recognized me, they all just watched us with groggy interest. The old coot cleared his voice to address the hall.

"I have an important announcement. Last night you may have noticed a few of your professors were missing. Their absence was the result of a surprise guest's arrival earlier that morning." The students had all perked up now and were watching us with interest and whispering amongst themselves. "I must ask you not to panic. Tom Riddle, or as many of you know him as Voldemort, was enrolled last night." A small ginger haired girl in Gryffindor robes had the strongest reaction; the rest of the school seemed too shocked to move. The girl screamed bloody murder. It hurt my ears trying to listen to her outraged shrieking. "Now, now, there is nothing to get upset about. I have taken all the necessary precautions to ensure all of you will be safe. This Tom is from the past; he had an accident and is temporarily trapped in our time." The girl cut in again. "He doesn't look any younger than the diary Tom, and he had no trouble causing trouble and attacking students last time! HE ALMOST KILLED ME!" "If he really is You Know Who then why don't you kill him now? You could stop him from ever becoming the Dark Lord!" cried a boy with tawny hair from the Hufflepuff table. "Don't be daft, that could mess up the time line and cause a paradox!" A small blond girl from Ravenclaw shouted back. The rest of the Ravenclaws nodded in agreement. With any luck, I wouldn't have to worry about any of them trying to kill me.

"Quite right Miss Brocklehust. Harry and the rest of the Hogwarts staff will be keeping tabs over mister Riddle. It would be best to simply leave him be until we can find a way to send Tom back to his own time. In the mean time, Riddle will be sharing classes with Harry. No one is to share books with Tom or tell him anything about his or the wizarding worlds future. Anyone caught breaking these rules will be severely punished." The ginger haired girl burst into tears and fled the hall, as Dumbledore motioned us to take our seats. Harry head to the Gryffindor table and I follow, after seeing the threatening looks cast my way by my fellow Slytherins. Normally I would ignore such looks and sat with anyway but the old git made it very clear that I would not like what happened if I caused any trouble, and with those looks, I knew there would be trouble. The Gryff's didn't look any more welcoming then the Slytherins but if Harry was as respected as I thought he was then they wouldn't dare touch me.

As we approached the table, a tall red headed boy with freckles shot up and yelled in Harry's face. "WHY ARE YOU BRINGING THAT MURDER OVER HERE? YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID TO MY SISTER!" The red head's face matched his hair. Some of the other Gryffindors were trying to calm him down, without success. "Ron, I already explained this to you. Would you calm down?" Harry hissed to his friend quietly, trying to calm the boy. Harry looked to be about to say something else when the boy, Ron, punched him in the face without warning. The Gryffindors were up in moments ripping the red head away from Harry, who had been knocked to the floor by the blow. His glasses were smashed and his left eye was bleeding where the glass cut him. He looked shocked and a little dazed. "Ron!" a girl around the same age as Harry with puffy brown hair shouted after the red head that had freed himself from his captors and was storming out of the hall. Some of the Gryffindors made to go after him but Harry had recovered. "Let him go. I'll talk to him later after he calms down." "I don't think that's a good idea Harry."

Practically jumping out of my skin I whip around. A young girl with dirty blond hair and dreamy silver eyes smiled up at us. She didn't seem to really see us, her gaze seemed to cut right through my body to focus on something within. Light chills ran down my spine, there was something off about this girl, and her peaceful smile would not fool me. "Why not Luna?" Harry asked with a slight smile, he seemed completely unaffected by her strange behavior. I could only presume that he knew her well. "The Wrackspurt's are nesting in his ears. He's not himself anymore." She said sadly but completely serious. Harry answered in stride, "Can they be cleared out?" I was still reeling in my surprise when she answered. "Yes but the Nargles won't let you they like Wrackspurt's. They make their victims easer to snatch." "Hhm." Was his only reply. A Hufflepuff perfect came to join the blond Ravenclaw, Luna. "Hay Harry. Are you ok? I can't believe Ron attacked you, has he gone mad!" Harry shrugged at the question, while most of the Gryffindors nodded in agreement with the boy. "It's The Wrackspurts." Luna added. The Hufflepuff just blinked at her and continued. "So, um, Harry; have you made your decision about the D.A? Will we be starting up soon? I meant what I said last year, and you're a great teacher." Harry blushed slightly at the complement and dropped his head slightly to hide it. "Yes, Fred and George have offered to help me out. I'm going to wait until things start to settle down first but next week we will have a meeting." "GREAT! I'll be sure to let the others know!" The boy shouted as he took off to; presumably, spread the news of Harry's decision.

"Are these Wrackspurts and Nargles things contagious? They sound dangerous; I do not believe I have ever heard of either one before. Are they a new species?" I ask Harry and the other students not because I am worried about these strange new creatures, but because I am tired of being blatantly, ignored. The entire group explodes into complete hysterics, save for Harry and Luna who only look amused by my question. I can not quite keep the frown from my face after receiving such an impertinent reaction. Harry gives me a serious look before he answers my question. "They can be contagious, but you should be more worried about the people who have them. They can make people react in strange ways, and it's impossible to know if someone has them just by looking at them." The fluffy brown haired girl huffed at the comment. Crossing her arms, she leveled Harry with a sharp glair. "Don't tell me you're starting to believe all that nonsense Harry!" She says with an exasperated look.

"Herminie!" Harry starts to say but is cut off. "It's complete none sense Harry. I know you two got close this summer, but I can't understand how she's got you believing in all of that nonsense!" She glares. "It's ok Harry." Luna smiles dreamily. Harry looks at her for a moment before letting Herminie's comments go. The Gryffindor girl struck me as a know it all but; it is obvious now why she was made a Gryff, and not a Ravenclaw. She obviously could only see what was right in front of her and was oblivious to the story in-between the lines. I pondered the who and what the two of them had spoke of as we headed towards our first class of the day.

The first class of the day was Potions. Surprisingly nothing had changed; the classroom, its setup, and the teacher were all the same. If Slughorn was not so much older then he remembered the slug to be he could almost delude himself into thinking he was back home. He and Harry sat together with Herminie in the back of the class. He had not even glanced at the Slytherins knowing they still would not accept him. They could not be seen with him or supporting him in any way without earning the suspicions of the rest of the school. He did not like it but he knew that he could compromise their usefulness to his older self if it was any other way. At least the most of the Slytherins and Ravenclaws would not come after him. He had worried about that most of the night but the schools reaction to him that morning was very telling. The Snakes feared and respected him, and the Ravens followed their lead with a bit more disinterest and common sense mixed into their reactions. Ravenclaw's house was smart enough to know what interfering with him could do to the time line. The prospect was not a pretty thought. The Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's were split fifty- fifty. Half Followed Harry loyally and the other half agreed with the red head, Ron, but followed Harry. All the houses other than Slytherin had members that would pose a threat to him but they were only a handful. As long as Harry could keep the Gryffs and Puffs under control, he would not have much to worry about.

The hair on the back of my neck started to stand up as I felt a menacing glair fall on me. In the front of the room, glaring daggers at him and looking completely out of place sat Ron. Harry had sat us in the back of the room to avoid bring attention to me but it seemed the little red head was determined to make his hatred known, even if he was risking the teachers wrath. Slughorn ignored him instead favoring to take role. He smiles brightly at Harry with that greedy smile of his but paled drastically when my name directly followed his. I only gave him the slightest bit of my attention for the scene because I was fighting the pleased grin threatening to curl across my face at hearing my name behind Harry's. It was not hard to ignore the Potter and Tom that stood in between. There was no reason for me to be feeling this way towards a boy I only barely knew and was most likely a dangerous enemy to my older self. Anger burned in my abdomen, sending fierce heat throughout my body, but had no avail towards the cursed feelings. I growled at them mentally.

Returning my attention back to class I was just in time to catch the old Slug berating the boy Ron, who was apparently a Weasley not that I had not guessed. The Weasel had not heard his name called while he glared at me and lost Gryffindor ten points in the process. We brood a potion for the rest of class with nothing interesting occurring save for Ron and another boy Neville Longbottom blowing up their caldrons. Only Harry, Herminie, and of course my potion turned out right. The rest of the classes potion-making skills were far below par for a NEWT class. Harry's skills were also questionable; the raven-haired boy spent far too much time reading his Potions book for him to be simply following the directions. It looked like he was trying to read something in it but was could not make it out. It could be his eyesight was bad or something was obscuring the writing but he was not convinced. He would find the underlying cause of the unusual behavior, eventually. The rest of the day proceeded the same way. Teachers were nervous of him, students avoided or glared at him, Harry ignored him, and Ron lost sixty more points by the end of the day.

~*~*~End~*~*~

Yay, longest chapter ever! This is actually two chapters in one. I was going to post the class scene as a different chapter later, but you get it now for being such patient readers. It's been what, months since the last one. Yikes! Anyway, you know the saying anything that can go wrong will. It is true, and evil. School and family problems, then my computer explodes! I kid you not I was hit with a power surge and these capacitor things in my computer blew up, seriously exploded! It took a month to fix a month without internet, I-tunes, anything. The unadulterated horror! (Yes, that's an Ouran High School Host Club reference. Go Nekozawa and Beelzenef!)

Ok about the story. The next chapter I will be skipping up to about Halloween; probably the week before. We are about a fourth of the way through but I keep adding stuff as I go so we'll see. I'm going to try and post at least once a month but we will see. I am back in school now so time is the problem. Anyways, sorry for the long wait and I hope you enjoy.


	6. Hogsmeade

Summary of the story so far: Sixth year Tom is sent through a portal to Harry's sixth year by accident. Trapped there until the portal's power recharges, Tom is placed in Harry's charge. Harry must protect Tom from those who would harm or even kill him for the crimes of his older self. If Harry fail and Tom is killed, it could spell disaster for the timeline. The boys meet two for the founders, Salazar and Godric. Tom learns about Harry's Parseltongue ability and that Harry belongs in the house of the snakes. The twins are back to give Harry a hand keeping Tom out of trouble. Dumbledore tells the school about Tom's presence. Ron and Ginny are upset with Harry, and that is the story thus far.

TR/HP( fluff), Some Gryffindor bashing (because every story needs an antagonist.), character death (not Harry, Tom, or Voldemort, I can't say any more or I'll give it away), SPOILERS! (I am trying to keep the facts from all seven books, but I'm changing the plot from the sixth book on.)

Disclaimer: See previous chapters please.

"Talking"

\_Parseltongue_/

~*~*~Start~*~*~

The next few weeks were all the same. The teachers ignored him except when they thought he was up to something he could not go anywhere alone without being treated as if he was slobbering werewolf looking for unsuspecting victims to eat. They all turned a blind eye to the other children whenever they decided to attack him. When he was alone, he was under constant attack, falling victim to the endless jeers, and convictions of those around him. It was as if he were back at the orphanage, except instead of fists and stones the children threw hexes and curses.

It was the Friday before Halloween, when the attacks reached a new level of violence. Harry was in Divination; a class he refused to take, when a powerful blasting curse shot by him, missing his head by a hair, and erupted in a flash of bright red light into the wall ahead of him. The blast sent him flying backwards towards his attackers. The floor slammed into his back and sent harsh flashes of light before his eyes. The whole corridor was filled with a haze, that made the air flow and waver like looking into a stream to see what lay at its bottom.

My ears were full of buzzing like angry bees. I could hear muffled voices coming towards me, but they seemed distant. No matter how much I concentrated the sounds slipped through my grasp back behind that buzzing. Everything ached and I felt like losing my lunch. I tried to move but I had no feel of my body. Things blurred and flashed above me as I fought back my control. It was a fruitless battle, like the sounds, what little I won was quick to slip away the moment I focused my concentration on gaining more back. My futile attempts finally started to gain perches in tinny fractions, as I was able to hold on to more of my consciousness. The fuzz started to clear out of my eyes, the buzzing faded, and I regained control of myself. The ache throughout my body grew as the rest faded. It seemed to bloom from the back of my head and seep into the rest of my body. The pain made it harder to fight back the sickness in my stomach, and I could feel warm tears trickling from my eyes. I cursed the tears and tried to move to wipe them away but was brought to a halt by explosions of pain that brought back some of the buzzing and haze before they faded away again. Ice sank in the pit of my stomach. I was stuck, severely hurt, and no one would help me. Nothing this bad had ever happened before, I wondered how long it would take me until I died here. I don't want to die! The dread crushed the ice in my stomach, forming a black hole in its place. It dragged and ripped every aspect of me, crushed my entire being into a cold shivering ball in a pit of endless fear. It shot through my mind freezing my brain. The world became crystal clear, everything was bright and crisp. I could see the shaking of my hand, completely drained of blood. My body was cold, freezing, the pain eradicated by the ice. The shivers ran all over my body, but my mind was clear. Everything was empty gone, but my body trembled violently as I pushed myself into a sitting position.

Harry was suddenly beside me. His lips moved but the words made no since. They were worried sounds, that I knew were words, but they had no meaning. He sat beside me and took my hands into his, warming them and the rest of me with them. I started to feel drained as the fear melted away with the cold. The pain didn't return with its absence, so my eyes started to flicker closed.

I jumped with a start; I just sustained a serious head injury, sleeping is the worst thing I could do! "Tom are you all right?" I blink and find I am in the Hospital Wing with Harry sitting beside my bed. "I fell asleep! You're not supposed to let concussion patients sleep, they might not wake up! I remember Mrs. Cole said that if you did they might end up with brain damage! Harry, how long…" Harry slaps his hand over my mouth, and looks like he is about to laugh. "Tom you are fine, Madam Pomfrey didn't let you sleep until she healed you. You were completely out of it so you may not remember. You are fine! We can leave as soon as Madam Pomfrey looks you over one more time. OK?"

I am too shocked for words. Nothing seems to fit how I am feeling; hell, I am not sure if what I feel is a feeling. The next thing I know I have him in a bear hug and I cannot stop shaking again. He rubs his hand over my back, startling me back into the realm of sanity. I settle down, feeling pathetic, and apologize profusely for jumping him. This just is not like me; I have no reason to trust Potter. All he is some strange child who my older self wishes to kill, and has earned Dumbledore's respect. I should be watching him for possible weaknesses not gaping at him like a lovesick schoolgirl! I feel disgusted with my behavior but try and reason. Slytherin liked him, and the little Gryff was really a Snake who could speak parseltongue. There was more to him, but he barely gave me the time of day. Harry never really talked about himself, and he did not let much slip about his true opinion on any political topic. Not that the Gryffindors talked about politics much, everything was Quidditch, classes, and holidays with that bunch.

Madam Pomfrey finally came in to look me over, temporarily breaking the silence. I was given a clean bill of health and promptly kicked out of the Hospital Wing. "You should feel lucky, she normally would have tried to keep you for another week; a day at the least." Harry exclaimed with a genuine smile. I returned it with a small one of my own. It was the first time he spoke to me without needing to tell me something concerning my stay or answering one of the questions, I asked him. Potter gave me a calculating look. "How about we visit Hogsmeade? It's Saturday and is a Hogsmeade weekend so no one will notice you if we are careful." I stare at the Gryff in shock. He has to have lost his mind. Dumbledore would kill us if he found out. I had not been forbidden to leave the castle but I was not allowed to leave either. Hell, the old git would not let me have my own set of class books. I had a set of old textbooks from my time that were more like antiques than books, and I could not take them from the classroom. It was a good thing the grades would not affect me when I returned to my time.

Harry seemed to have gotten tired of waiting for an answer. He turned and headed down the corridor in a way that clearly said I was meant to follow. Keeping on his heels, we snaked our way through the labyrinth of hallways avoiding teachers and students until we reached a statue of a one-eyed witch on the third floor corridor. Harry taped the statue and said "Dissendium". The statue moved to reveal a passageway behind it.

We followed the passageway until it ended at a trap door. Harry made sure the coast was clear before we snuck out into a cellar. It turned out we were in Honeydukes. We stole past the people and out into the streets. "What would you like to do first?" the obviously insane Gryff asked, as if we were not breaking just about every rule Hogwarts had. Not knowing what to say in the face of this drastic turn of events; I shrug and allow Harry to lead me around Hogsmeade. At first, I fear Dumbledore's wrath, knowing that the man would not be pleased to learn that I had escaped the stone prison he had turned Hogwarts into, to spend the day having fun; but my fears are quickly swept aside by the excitement of the tiny bit of freedom I was being offered to enjoy. We visited almost every store in the small village, looking at the many interesting wares the shops were selling. I eventually made a game of explaining what different things were charmed to do to the curious Gryffindor, whenever he did not seem to know. Which, surprisingly, was quite often, excluding anything pertaining to Quidditch; most students his age, even those with no prior knowledge of the wizarding world before receiving their acceptance letter, would have known most of the things I explained, seeing, as they were commonly used tools by most wizards. It was a wonder how the boy could not know so much his own culture. I made a mental note to remedy this problem. Maybe if my little Gryffindor had a better understanding of this world he would be able to get along with my older self. It would be rather depressing to lose him just because he was under a misconception.

We ended our day at the Three Broomsticks, having several Butterbeers. We spent most of the time chatting about the teachers and classes, with Harry asking many questions about the differences between the Hogwarts of my time. Unfortunately, besides a few minor things like clothing style, books, and teachers there were no real changes to Hogwarts. The political views now are more opposed to Dark Magic then from the time I came from but it was only a slight bit more.

"You can't expect me to believe that in over fifty years the wizarding community has not changed at all. There has to be something different, I know change is slower but surely there is a shop or building something different that you find exciting about this time." He asks me sounding slightly exasperate. I chuckle at his comment and reply in a slightly condescending tone, that was more snide than I would have liked it to be. "Of course nothing has changed, people, especially wizards, abhor change. They enjoy their peaceful, mediocre lives, so long as they have their little luxuries and the semblance of stability they are perfectly content ignoring the problems in their societies. They will continue ignoring the growing dangers around them until they blow up in their faces. Once the problem has reached momentous proportions, they will cry and rage to everyone around them, cursing their government for their own shortcomings. If you want to see change Harry you have to use force and remain undaunted no matter how much the general population fights you and your ideas." Harry looks taken back but quickly rebuts. "You can't just force your opinions and beliefs onto others. You'll only earn their hatred, maybe you will enrapture some but the majority will fight you to the bitter end!" Anger glows in his death green eyes. I laugh bitterly sneering "And waiting around for others to change their minds works so well. People are sheep; they like to follow the group, even when the group is wrong and walking towards the slaughter. They will keep along their self-destructive path until someone comes along scares enough of them out of line to convince the group to follow the new route. It goes without question that a few of the truly stubborn ones will continue on the original path, and they deserve the fate they have chosen, but the majority will eventually accept the new ways and will follow without giving the change another thought. People are simply too egotistical to think of anything other than themselves, if it does not impair their life they simply ignore it as unimportant. ""But that doesn't mean violence is the answer! You don't need to hurt people to get them to change their ways!" He snaps the anger flashing like brilliant green lighting in his eyes. I quickly cut him off seeing that he has somehow miss understood what I was trying to say.

"I never said anything about violence, while it works, that was not my intention. Rumors or the prospect of violence can create fear just as well. If you can convince enough people that they are no longer safe, and your ideals can protect them, they will listen. The power of your ideals will gain favor and will spread; making it easier to change others minds." I smile at him conspiringly, my poor Gryffindor looks taken back and a little confused. I decide to simplify it a little more for him. It is rather obvious my declaration of a nonlethal world conquest plan was not something he had expected to hear from me. His reaction indicates that my original plan to influence the minds of the populace through the next generation as a beloved teacher, must have failed. Although I already had my suspicions when I saw Dumbledore's reaction to me, he has always had a fierce aversion towards me, but it has never been as apparent. I would like to know what initiated his dislike. My first impression on him was atrocious, but surly I was not the first troubled child he had to deal with. After eleven years of ridicule and being treated, as a monster because of my powers, was it really any surprise that I had more than a few behavioral problems. My reputation at the orphanage is infamous, even after I tried to behave appropriately, as Dumbledore had informed me I would have to if I wished to attend Hogwarts, they still feared and reviled me. After a while I gave, and returned to my old ways, if only to stop the abuse. At Hogwarts, I had greater success, and when I did, slip up I made sure no one could prove my involvement. Still, Dumbledore hated me. I got perfect grades, answered questions in class, helped others understand the material, was sickeningly polite most of the time and was an all around good student. It really made no sense, especially with all the exalted Professor's talks about second chances. I sneer mentally at the thought of how revered the old git is, and attempt to simplify what I said to Harry. I should avoid thinking about the old man; it always makes my blood boil.

"Say you don't like centaurs, and want them eliminated; you could go out and just start killing them off or maybe get a small group to help you but eventually the Ministry will step in and try to stop you. You would then have to fight both the centaurs and the Ministry; or you could convince people that centaurs are dangerous. You start with people who will hear your opinion and are likely to accept what you have to say as the truth. You convince them that centaurs are monsters that want to ruin their peaceful lives using as much fact as possible and bending the truth to fit your needs. They will become frightened and warn their others. The idea that centaurs are dangerous will spread, maybe not accepted, but the thought will be there, every time it comes up, it will grow in strength. Then you wait for the inevitable, a tragic event involving wizards and centaurs. Sell the story as the centaurs showing their dangerous, violent nature and the preliminary to far greater tragedies, and that seemingly silly rumor will cause mass hysteria. The incident will convince the masses that your rumor was indeed truth and it will be sickeningly easy to convince them to persecute the species legally no violence or bloodshed." I shrug and smirk slightly.

There are plenty of holes in my simple explanation, but it covers the basics. I obviously can't tell him that I plan to use a mixture of both ideas to help move things along, even if pointless killing is not a part of the plan. I just need general chaos, an attack here or there would suffice, no one had to die for it to work. I cannot tell that to Harry though, as a Gryffindor, his sense of justice would never allow him to accept letting anyone get hurt. I do not want to argue with him after he went out of his way to make sure I had fun today.

Harry does not look exceptionally thrilled with my brilliant, nonviolent plan. He seems to be suspicious, and I think he has deduced my true intentions. The strange Gryffindor does not call me on it and eventually changes the subject. "If you don't plan to become an evil world dominating dark lord then what do you want to do once you graduate?" He asks with a teasing look. I cannot prevent myself from smiling back. "I plan on doing a little traveling and become a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." I wait for him to get over his shock. I'm sure the last thing he was expecting was his future's Dark Lord wanting to become a teacher. Tom could not help it though, learning was his passion and to be able to teach others for a living would be paradise. It would be a life of books, showing off his magical aptitude, spreading his opinions to the naive masses, be adored and revered; not to mention he would never have to leave the only place he had ever called Home. "You're really serious." He says, shattering my whimsical thoughts and bring me to realize that I had a daft smile on my face. Heat flushes across my cheeks even as I try to conceal my emotions, while cursing my break in the mask I normally wear in public. Harry giggles at my awkwardness, though he tries to hide it. I cannot stop the small smile from gracing my lips at the noise. In that moment, the little Gryffindor is the definition of cute, and the blush that my smile entices is brilliant.

"We should get back to the castle. I doubt we can stay away any longer without being missed." He says looking over the room with his killing curse green eyes. I glance around noticing that the pub has started to empty of students. I nod; Harry quickly pays for our drinks. We move silently through the crowd, and slip unnoticed back it to the school. Feeling extremely victorious, I smile triumphantly. Harry grins back amused. Our smiles die the second we round the corner. My three least favorite people are heading towards us looking positively narked*. Dread settled in the pit of my stomach. This did not look good.

~*~*~End~*~*~

*Narked: Is a British slang word meaning annoyed or very angry. I don't remember if this was used in the Harry Potter series ever, but I left it in anyway. I would like to use more British slang in this story but I worry that some people will get confused if I do. I'll probably just stick with what I have been doing so far, although maybe I'll add more slang as Tom becomes more comfortable with Harry.

The next chapter for my ever-patient readers; I applaud you for not ripping my head off for taking so long. I've actually had this chapter done for months, but I was not thrilled with how the talk between Harry and Tom went at the end. It's fixed now, and I am a fourth of the way done with the seventh chapter. It will be short but Slytherin will be back, so it should be fun. I am going to mess with the comment settings but in no way does that mean that you have to send me one, I will keep writing either way. I'm one of those writers who really doesn't care about receiving them. To those of you who did comment, thanks. I'd reply to them but I'm not really sure how to and it is easier to thank you here. I also need to apologize for all the spelling and grammar mistakes in the last chapter. I can only hope I caught them before I posted it online and just never got around to changing my computer copy. It is almost enough to convince me to find a Beta reader.


	7. Let the Planning Commence

Summary of the story so far: Sixth year Tom is sent through a portal to Harry's sixth year by accident. Trapped there until the portal's power recharges, Tom is placed in Harry's charge. Harry must protect Tom from those who would harm or even kill him for the crimes of his older self, only things are more desperate then they first appeared. Tom is almost killed, and Harry realizes that he can no longer look the other way. As an apology, the boy who lived smuggles, Tom out of the school for a day of fun in Hogsmeade. Too bad getting out unnoticed is harder than getting back in, and that is the story thus far.

TR/HP( fluff), Some Gryffindor bashing (because every story needs an antagonist.), character death (not Harry, Tom, or Voldemort, I can't say any more or I'll give it away), SPOILERS! (I am trying to keep the facts from all seven books, but I'm changing the plot from the sixth book on.)

Disclaimer: See previous chapters please.

"Talking"

'_Parseltongue_'

~*~*~Start~*~*~

They came to a dead halt. Harry stiffened slightly at the three professor's approach; I could not help wondering what Dumbledore would do. He hated me, but Harry was his favorite student, he could not rightly punish me and not his "Golden Boy" not when the Gryffindor was the instigator. They finally reached us. The two professors retained their furious glares but the Headmaster hit us with a disappointed grandfatherly look. "Evening Professors, is something wrong?" Harry asks them radiating a mixture of innocence, curiosity, and worry. His act was flawless, had I not known he was anything but innocent I would have never suspected a thing. I was truly impressed, but I kept my face blank and strengthened my Occlumency shields. I was not going to do anything to impairment Harry's act.

Snape spoke first, his furious retort held a bitterness that made me suspect that his anger was not solely based on today's events. "Potter" He spat, as if the name were something truly disgusting. "You are a blithering idiot, your arrogance and blatant disregard for the rules will make it easy for 'Him' Potter. Do you have any sense in that thick skull of yours, or are you trying to get your self killed?" Harry looked ready to snap back with his own retort but Dumbledore cut him off. "Now now, there is no need for that. I'm sure young Harry here had the best intentions. Right Harry?" He shot the boy a kind look. Harry blinked confused, and replied gently. "I would never do anything foolish without a good reason professor, but I'm not sure what it is that I have presumably done wrong." He cocked his head slightly and blinked questioningly up at the Headmaster.

The old man chuckled with amusement. "Now Harry I know you meant well but you should not have left the castle grounds, Hogsmeade is not safe for you and Tom. You could have been attacked my boy. We only have your safety in mind." Suddenly Harry's entire demeanor changes unexpectedly, his eyes flare with anger. "Tom already gets attacked here headmaster, and he has been under constant attack since he got here. No one even tries to stop it! They even attack when I'm around. He hasn't even done any of the things that he's being attacked for sir! Voldemort is the one who committed those crimes; Tom hasn't even finished school yet. It's not right, you can't keep punishing him for things he hasn't done yet."

With a scoff, Snape cut the boy's triad short. "Potter if you think that monster will change his ways you're sourly mistaken. The brat is a psychopath he is just using you." The Potion's master shot me a disgusted look. It is obviously bait, the only times I have ever lost control of my perfect student persona occurred after someone dared to call me a monster or questioned my mental health. Still, I am far from amused, and it takes a great deal of will power not to hex the insufferable bastard. "

Forgive me headmaster, but I do believe that Harry has a legitimate argument." I begin politely, keeping my rage at these fools in check. Once I have their attention I precede. "If I remember correctly, sirs, the whole point of my remaining in Hogwarts was because I would be kept safe from attack. If you do not uphold your end of the bargain, than how am I expected to uphold mine?" A wicked smile creeps its way onto my face, as I simply can not help feeling smug. If the seething glares, I am being subjected to are any hint, this argument is won.

Only Dumbledore and Harry seem calm. "Ah yes, well you two do have a point." The old coot chirrups eyes twinkling, much to my outrage. Bloody hell, I hate that twinkle! It made me want to **hurt** things. "I'm afraid you boys are right. I have not done right by you Tom, but I must ask you two to try to bear with things for now. It simply isn't safe for you outside of the castle." He paused to give Harry a sharp look. "Even if Voldemort is still out of the country, I assure you his followers are not. I doubt there is much else they would like than to get their hands on either of you. Do you boys think you can survive a few more months inside of the castle?" A gentle grandfatherly smile graced his face. Harry beamed, and nodded with an "of course sir, no problem", while grumbled a "sure". Anything to get me away from that barmy coots blasted grin. No wonder my older self goes around killing people. Someone has to do something to whip that incessant grin from the old man's face!

We head back to my room, and Harry bids me good night. I thank him for earlier, and head inside only to be greeted by a rather chipper Salazar. '_Good evening Lord Slytherin_' I hiss curtly. I am simply too tired to really care right now, although, I have not seen the founder for some time. '_Now, now Tom_ _there is no reason for that, I come bearing good news!' 'Do you now?' _ I ask looking up, my curiosity getting the better of me. '_Yes, Godric has convinced our esteemed headmaster to hold a special Dueling tournament over the winter holidays. The winner will receive a grand prize of their choice. Obviously, it can't be anything too grand, but something as simple as a resorting may be a plausible reward, don't you think?' _His sly smile only grew as the implications registered. I can not stop a matching grin from wandering onto my face as well as I start working out a plan. If I can get Harry as my dueling partner, we would be unstoppable. The prize was as good as ours, now how to convince my reluctant friend to go along with our plans?

~*~*~End~*~*~

Oh dear, it's been over a year since I posted, and now I have nothing left to show for it! *Sigh* I had this thrice dammed story finished too. This is what I get for forgetting to make a backup. Evil computers are evil, and all that jazz. I have rewritten the end, and now I know exactly how many more chapters I have left. For those of you who are curious, five, maybe six if I end up adding extra material. I may have secret plans for a Halloween story, if anyone is curious. This supposed secret story may also have something to do with Tom's inexplicable fear of house elves. *wink*

Now to some interesting questions I've been asked by commenters, I can't remember who. Anyway, it has been pointed out to me that I switch perspectives occasionally, and at some odd times. First, I'll say that that will no longer be a problem, hopefully. You see I had already wrote, and typed up most of this story a while ago, but in Harry's perspective, or third person when focusing on Tom. When I went to edit it before posting, a sudden epiphany struck me. How about the entire story be in Tom's perspective? Usually everything focuses on Harry, but what if Tom got to be the star? I really liked the idea, although, writing for Tom can be odd at times. Thus, the entire story had to go through some radical changes. Those odd perspective shifts, are simply stuff I missed while editing. And of course the second question, why is Tom out of character!? Tom is acting; it's a hostile environment, so Tom is behaving. He is putting up with all this nonsense only because he truly believes that they will kill him if he doesn't. Things are about to change, if you didn't pick up on that this chapter. As for why he is not plain evil yet, well that is kind of important to the plot. I'll get to it soon enough. Tom is still a murder; we'll see his darker side eventually.


	8. Elf Made Wine (mini story)

Hogwarts is the home of many unusual and mysterious things. One such denizen is the elusive House-elf. These shy creatures are so secretive that many of the schools inhabitants have never seen one, let alone realize their existence within the school. These small creatures stand at about two to three feet, have a humanoid appearance, with large eyes, long nose, and large floppy ears. The species usually inhabit the large houses of wealthy Wizarding families. They bind themselves to the family of the house, usually performing small tasks for their owners, and performing most of the homes up keeping. It is rear to spy one of these small creatures because the pride themselves for being able to complete their choirs without disturbing the homes other occupants.

Somewhere at a desk deep within a rarely used portion of the Hogwarts library sleeps a young seventh year student. His worn, second hand school robes hang off his plump frame in a wrinkled mess. The edge of his yellow and black Hufflepuff badge can just be seen peeking out from behind his folded arms. He lies with his head in his arms atop a _Hogwarts a History_ book, left open to a page on the non-human inhabitants of the school. Tawny brown locks of short messy hair spill over the pages and cover his face from view.

With a sudden jerk, as if zapped by some unseen force, the boy falls back and lands with a hard thump on the library's floor. Dull blue gray eyes blink in confusion; the child glances around attempting to regain his bearings. He picks himself up, and dusts his ropes off, before casting a quick "Tempus". A faint 8:00pm glows for a few moments before fading away once more. The temporary light lights up his face enough to show the copious freckles that cover his cheeks. The Hufflepuff grimaces before gathering up his books in his school bag, and making his way to the libraries exit.

By the time the boy reaches the exit, the corridors of the great school are empty. Its inhabitants back in their respective rooms preparing for their trip home the next day, or partying one last time before the year comes to a close. The unfortunate Hufflepuff is the only exception this night, for while he is finally graduating from the precocious school, it is only with barely adequate scores, and no shining achievements to ease his way into adult life. There is very little one can do when your only achievements are Acceptable's on your Muggle Studies, Divination, and Charms NEWTS. This is especially true when you come from a poor Muggle family with no standing or powerful friends in the Wizarding society. No, poor Herbert Cooper would be very lucky to find a job as an assistant in a bar or shop assistant. He has no good looks, and poor social skills, there is simply nothing for him to fall back on. It was needless to say, that young Cooper was not in for a pleasant ride once school let out, and the pitiable child knew it.

Herbert slowly made his way through the school back to his common room. Thoughts and worrier about the future plague his tired mind. Perhaps if he had been a little more aware he would have remembered to skip the trick step as he normally did when taking the short cut to his common room, unfortunately for him he did not. His foot quickly snuck into the step, and the Hufflepuff went sprawling. Books and papers going every which way. Cursing and wincing in pain Cooper attempter to stand, only to collapse once more. His ankle screamed in pain, sharp stabs emanating from it in constant waves. Herbert takes several panicky breaths while attempting to calm down. Warm tears slid down his chubby face leaving cool tracks. After a few long moments, the Hufflepuff calms down enough to start searching for his wand.

Upon discovering it though, the tears are back in force. Heavy sobs echo down the empty staircase, as the child clutches the broken twig that once was his beloved wand. He crumples into a discussing heap on the stairs, one leg trapped in the step, head buried deep into his arms. The minutes slowly tick by, and the boys' sobs eventually subside as he drifts off asleep. The night slowly slinks on.

Deep in the Hogwarts kitchens, a strange excited hum permeates the air. Many small beings dash to and fro, somehow managing to avoid colliding with one another. The Hogwarts house elves are on the move, cleaning and striating up the ancient school for the next day. The majority of its occupants may have been celebrating the start of the summer holiday, but the many proud house elves would not be slaking of this night. Elves carrying buckets, and brooms popped in and out at alarming rates. Dashing and scurrying about for various cleaning supplies, happy smiles across their tiny faces.

Suddenly a strange cry is heard, a squeaky voice yells for the room's attention. With that strange cry, the room freezes, the inhabitants don't so much as twitch. If not for the soft breathing of the elves, they could be mistaken for many odd statues. Slowly life returns to the room, but at a more cautious pace. The elves silently circle the one who halted their busy routine. The speaker is a relatively young elf, with big brown eyes, and unusually long ears even for a house elf. He stands in the center quivering with excitement. A much older elf pulls away from the circle to approach the young one. "Tippy whats is wrong? There are lots of work us needs to be doing!" Tippy seems to become anxious at the others words and quickly starts explaining while gesturing wildly. "Buts Binkle there are an hurt student! Master Herbert gots stuck in the step, and are not awake!" Binkle cocks his head in thought, the metaphorical cogs turning. "You's means the older badger Tippy?" "Yes!" Tippy nods furiously glad the other understands. Binkle bobs his head smiling mischievously. The smile slowly crept across the faces of the other occupants; soon all of the cleaning supplies were left abandoned on the floor.

Young Cooper was awoken from his sleep when gravity suddenly vanished. He blinked dizzily, trying to regain his bearings. Once he managed to clear the sleep from his eyes, the injured Hufflepuff noticed that an odd creature was levitating him. The wrinkly tan creature had big eyes, a long nose, and floppy ears. A long gnarled finger was pointed at him. "Wha-what are you?" the terrified child asked, for he had never seen such a disturbing creature before. The small child sized thing smiled up at him from its place on the stairs. "I's be Binkle, sir. I's be a house elf, sir!" Binkle replied happily. Cooper frowned at the strange beast. He remembered reading something about house elves, but like always, he could not remember. "Um okay, do you think you could let me down from here?" The seventh year stammered. The small house elf was a bit disturbing in the dark staircase. Binkle rapidly shook his head, ears flopping every which way. "Oh's no, mister Cooper, sir! I can't bes doing that, sir! I'm very sorry, sir! " The elf gave him a regretful look, and rang his hands in agitation. Herbert squirms in the air as he tries to free himself from the invisible bonds, the elf's actions having disturbed him greatly. Gravity doesn't return, and eventually he tires, the previous mishap having stolen most of his strength. Giving up, he returns his attention to his captor. Binkle simply watches in silence. "Why can't you let me go?" He glares down at the elf. "We bes needing Mister Cooper's help, sir! We can't be making Elf made wine, sir, without you, sir!" The elf nodded excitedly. Herbert was shocked. This elf needed his help with something. No one ever needed or wanted his help. He always managed to botch things, no matter how simple they should be. "B-but why do you need me? I'm not good at anything?" He stammered out. The elf smiled and replied just as happily, "Mister Cooper, can help, sir because Mister Cooper is perfect for the wine, sir!" "Wha?" was Herbert's only reply before Binkle popped the two of them back to the kitchens.

A moment later two more house elves appeared. "Tippy, wheres we be taking mister Cooper's old things?" one of the elves squeaked. "We takes them to the room of forgotten things, Mipsy." Tippy squeaked back happily, and with that, the two gathered up all of the left behind papers, and books. Just as the two were leaving Mipsy thought she saw the edge of a black robe with green and silver trim dash down the stairs, but she quickly brushed it off as her imagination.

The next morning everyone was in a rush getting ready for the train ride home. The entire school was abuzz with excitement. Nothing was out of the ordinary, except one of the seventh year Hufflepuff beds was empty, and for some strange reason a space was left open at the Hufflepuff table. No one could seem to remember who was supposed to sit there though, and since no one was missing, it was quickly forgotten. At the High Table, the teachers seemed to be talking to one another more amiably than usual. As a young Slytherin would later find out from his rather genial head of house, the house elves had made a batch of Elf made wine. A relatively rare wine made only by House elves, and the recipe was a carefully guarded secret. The young Slytherin found himself feeling rather sick after hearing this, but he hadn't a clue why.

~~END~~

A little late, but hopefully you guys are not out of Halloween spirit yet. I hope you all had a great Halloween by the way!

As promised, an explanation for the house elf thing from earlier, and you'll get your next chapter as soon as I finish typing it. I'm a university student people, I'll post when I can. You have my word there is no lollygagging here! Anyway, I'd actually appreciate a few reviews for this one. My next story will probably be done in this style if you lot seem to like it. Thanks for reading!


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